A horrible rainy Sunday morning in Boston but a friend is here visiting, so brunch is in order. The pristine outdoor dining of Back Bay and the always-a-bonus people watching associated with it is out of the question. We need somewhere warm and cozy, where we can wait out the downpour and continue sightseeing in…
Feeling particularly giddy after learning how to properly prepare (and consume…) four delicious gin cocktails at the very well organized and fabulous Hendrick’s Gin tasting last week, I was feeling like a light bite to eat. The tasting was held in one of the private “classrooms” in the back of Catalyst Restaurant, located deep within…
For a simple breakfast one morning in Shanghai I chose 85°C Bakery Cafe, a bakery-cafe chain originally started in Taipei but also hugely popular in China. I figured I might as well try the way most locals realistically chow down in the morning before work, without going into a Starbucks. The place is actually more of…
Sunday “morning” and you’re in brunch mode in N.Y.? If you prefer crisp Mediterranean flavors and light, airy bites to buttery béchamel, Fig & Olive is the place for you. I recently stumbled into N.Y. to visit some long-lost lovers and slipped right into a brunch with some friendly strangers at the scenic Meatpacking District…
Ah Cheung Chau Island…. the perfect getaway from busy, noisy, polluted Hong Kong for a day of sunshine, fishing boats and awesome seafood. I went there on my last week in Asia, having checked everything else I had wanted to do off my list. I went there also because I needed a place to set…
In Suzhou, China it’s all about night street markets. And man, do they offer a variety of numnums. Steamed things, fried things, gelatinous things, things wrapped in banana leaf, soup, seafood, tofu, rice in every form imaginable, and some of the most interesting desserts I have ever seen. The following photos should serve as a…
Recently I had dinner at Penang Malaysian Cuisine in Boston’s Chinatown. It’s a pretty cool place made to look like a bit like tropical Malaysia without being too tacky or gimmick-driven. Despite its high capacity, it was packed by 7pm on a Saturday night. The menu was a nice blend of Chinese, Indian and typically Malaysian…
Upon my return to Boston there was definitely one place I had missed the most, as much for its atmosphere as for its wonderful food and masterful mixologists. News had reached me in a land far away that this restaurant had made it to the final round of Munch Madness 2012, where it was unceremoniously…
On a recent trip to Shanghai, I visited the beautiful and historical Yuyuan Gardens and got my fare share of facebook pictures posing as a lotus-footed Ming Dynasty concubine, blissfully feeding the royal goldfish of the summer palace garden ponds. The leafy green tranquility and static, dusty, historical silence of the place truly makes it…
Hong Kong is truly a city for food. It is a meeting point between East and West, and this results in equal availability of authentic, old school Cantonese favorites, Southeast Asian dishes and some pretty damn solid Western cuisine as well. Innovation is everywhere and the people, both expats and locals alike, are always on the look-out…
That Best Bite 